Gingrich Blasts NBC over 'Lies' About Wife

Former Speaker of the House and Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich vented to Greta Van Susteren, Wednesday, on Fox’s “On the Record” about a report by NBC that implied that his wife, Callista, essentially blew up his campaign and is the reason for the exodus of senior staff members.

“I thought NBC this morning, in a program that had nobody on camera, nobody quoted by name, that quoted reporters talking anonymously about cowardly people, who, frankly, lied about my wife -- and I believe NBC owes Callista an apology,” blasted Gingrich.

Gingrich compared his and his wife’s collaborations as similar to the late President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.

“Callista and I have a very similar relationship to Nancy and Ronnie Reagan. And people blame Nancy Reagan for things that Ronald Reagan did. The fact is, we are partners in thinking a lot of things through. We try to work out our schedule together. We try to work on a lot of projects together. We've made movies together. We've written books together.

“I think that unnerved some of the -- some of the consultants who thought they ought to own everything, they ought to control everything. And they resented the idea that they had to have the two of us actually talk with them about things like our schedules.”

Gingrich charged that his departed consultants had no idea about how to deal with a couple that cared together about their lives. He would not, however, point to any specific problems between his wife and staff members, claiming he had “no idea” of the particulars.

“There were problems with me and staff members,” Gingrich explained. ‘I wanted to run an idea-oriented, grass-roots, solutions-based campaign that used Facebook and YouTube and all sorts of exciting things. And we had a couple staff members who wanted to run a 1952 campaign that I thought was hopeless and couldn't possibly win. So I'll take the responsibility.”

Gingrich also chose not to comment about any particular back-stabbing comment offered by any former staffer toward his wife.

“I don't care what the staff did. NBC is supposed to be a responsible news organization, He said. “And I think for them to attack somebody's wife is utterly reprehensible. And I hope none of them ever have the experience of having their spouse attacked in that kind of reprehensible matter.”

“We had several people who quit, frankly, who had failed totally in their professional duties and who for the last month had not been doing their jobs. So I'd have been perfectly happy if they wanted to step up because we would have pointed out chapter and verse about why they were gone, and it wasn't for a very good reason,” Gingrich concluded before finally being prodded on to new subjects.

Former Speaker of the House and Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich vented to Greta Van Susteren, Wednesday, on Fox s On the Record about a report by NBC that implied that his wife, Callista, essentially blew up his campaign and is the reason for the exodus of senior...